A32-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, November 15,1986
fTlje
Dairy
Business
Newton Bair
/
The Three-Legged Milk Stool
Every now and then a twinge of
nostalgia hits, and we recall an old
symbol of youth on the farm that
relates to some modem problem.
For example, a symbol like the old
milk stool is very real and quite
true to life.
My mother kept the crude three
legged stool that I made for her
Christmas present about 1925, and
which she jealously guarded as her
own private milking aid for many
years. Scrubbed and painted, it
became an plant stand after she
retired from the farm. It’s still
among the relics taking up space
on a shelf in the garage, symbolic
of many things.
As a symbol, the three legs offer
suitable analogies for some
situations facing farmers today.
Forget the ancient patina and cow
stable aroma that lingers, and
notice the solid legs that are of
equal length and sturdiness.
Maybe the plank that holds them is
scuffed and craked, but it’s the
legs that make it set solidly, no
matter how rough the floor or how
often the user must accomodate
the movement of the cow. A
triangle of support is a symbol of
solidity.
Those three legs could be
compared to the three structures
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that shore up a farm business.
Simplified, they are assets, debts,
and income. When any one of them
gets out of proportion to the others,
the main plank gets more and
more uncomfortable and
downright dangerous. Now you
and I both know that these items
can’t be exactly equal like the legs
of a stool. They must be ap
portioned for equilibrium, making
a solid foundation for the business.
Perhaps they are best expressed
as ratios, for example, debt ser
vice as a percentage of income,
calculated by dividing your in
terest expense by total income.
Another leg could be net profit to
investment ratio. Figure this one
by subtracting all operating ex
penses except interest from total
sales, and dividing that figure by
total assets. The third leg might be
sales to fixed assets, which is
calculated by dividing your total
sales by the value of your
depreciated assets. An accountant
would call the depreciated value of
your assets the book value. 'Have
him help you to calculate your
balance.
The moral of this exercise is, if
any leg is too long or too short, the
stool could send you crashing into
the gutter. If the asset’s leg is too
Ely Appointed RCMA Director
MONTROSE - Harold Ely,
retired dairy farmer of Montrose
long, chances are that the debt
service leg is also too long, and the
income leg isn’t long enough to
keep you sitting solid.
Selling assets and reducing debts
may bring the business end down a
bit, but too many people think that
buying more assets by assuming
more debt will make the income
leg longer. It can happen, but
seldom does. When the stool gets
too high to fit under the cow we
wonder if it’s worth the effort.
We could go on with this kind of
allegory. The lowly milk stool
might be symbolic of anything that
comes in threes, like bad events,
lighting three of a match, and
“When shall we three meet
again?” The three blind mice, the
three little pigs or the Three
Musketeers need a standard of
some kind. Even the many Trip
tychs and trillogys in art and
poetry could have their humble
imitator in the three-legged stool.
The Holy Trinity hardly relates,
although the significance of Three
in One can’t be overlooked.
Younger readers won’t
remember the three-legged milk
stool. There is the strap-on kind
that only has one leg and is meant
only to lean on for a few moments.
It can never stand alone, since it
also relies on a man’s two legs for
stability. And of course, you don’t
sit down in the milking parlor at
all.
Mama often said that the only
reason she enjoyed milking was
because she could sit down to do it.
It was one of the few occasions that
afforded a rest while working! And
her personal three-legged stool
never slapped a cow over the rump
in anger, either. It wouldn’t have
survived that treatment.
has been designated to work with
the Steering Committee of the
Regional Cooperative Marketing
Agency to complete the sign-up of
producers in Pennsylvania to the
RCMA over order pricing
program. He was appointed by the
RCMA Board of Directors.
Ely, a former president of the
Pennsylvania Association of
Farmer Cooperatives and the
Pennsylvania Council of Farm
Organizations, will work with the
various groups involved in the
RCMA program. He played a
leading role in building a con
sensus among coops and farm
organizations during the suc
cessful fight to get a Pennsylvania
Producer’s Security Fund.
The RCMA Steering Committee
is made up of two representatives
each from the Pennsylvania
Farmers Association, Penn
sylvania Grange and Pennsylvania
Farmers Union.
“Dairy Farmers urgently need
an increase in the farm price of
milk,” said Ely. “The Regional
Cooperative Marketing Agency
today represents the only legally
based, proven organization that
has a reasonable chance to achieve
that higher price. We should all
give it every support possible.”
RCMA is a marketing agency in
Golden Harvest Sale Set
ELIZABETHTOWN The closed buildings available at the
Golden Harvest Sale and Garden fairgrounds, two barns and a sales
Spot Sale, scheduled for Dec. 11, area, he added. The facility can
will be held at the Lebanon handle up to 150 head.
Fairgrounds. “It’s in a good location being
Previously, the Golden Harvest situated just off of Route 72, south
Sale and Garden Spot Sale were of Lebanon, and near Lancaster,”
held at the Guernsey Sales Howes said.
Pavilion in Lancaster. But with _ , .. . .
that building no longer available a Selections are currently being
new site had to be found. made for the sale. Anyone m
“We think we’ve found a good terested in consigning should
facility,” Jay Howes of Backus contact Jay Howes at 717-367-9236
scid. There are three or Mike Weimer at 717^52-3486.
common as defined by the federal
Capper-Volstead Act. The Act
provides for farmers and their
organizations to get together to set
a price for their products under
certain specific guidelines.
RCMA, formed 10 years ago,
added 22 million dollars to the milk
checks of producers in New
England and western New York
during an 18-month period. It was
subsequently challenged in the
courts, and, after 10 years of
litigation, was fully vindicated in a
U.S. Supreme Court Decision.
RCMA is seeking a sign-up of 95
percent of the dairymen in the 11
Northeastern states. When that
has been accomplished, the
Agency will review market con
ditions and set a value for milk at
some level above the minimums
established under federal and state
marketing orders.
Currently, between RCMA and
the newly created Middle Atlantic
Cooperative Marketing Agency,
approximately 85 percent of the
sign-up is complete. The push io
now on to get the final 10 percent,
or more, by mid-November.
Questions about RCMA for which
local people cannot provide an
swers can be addressd to Mr. Ely,
RDI, Montrose. His phone number
is: (717)278-1259.